OH DEAR WENGER! AS MANCHESTER UNITED AND CHELSEA STEAM ROLL THE OPPOSITION

It’s same old story at Arsenal; Arsene’s diabolical team selection, square pegs in round holes -Bellerin left wingback, Oxlade right wing back – big game magic missing from several players, body language from the senior players not so exciting.

Arsenal just didn’t look like getting out of their own half against Liverpool, they couldn’t hold the ball and you would have thought they were playing Real Madrid or Barcelona, and ultimately the shape of the team wasn’t right at all with the personnel on the pitch.

Arsenal looked like a team that had not been coached at all – with due respect to Arsene – at best they looked like a group of school boys just told to go out and run on the pitch They looked like they had no preparation, there was no energy, no motivation and to think that Liverpool played a champions league qualifier in midweek makes it all the more incomprehensible if you’re an Arsenal fan.

How about team selection? Well, the coach sees the players each day in training so knows better than all of us and should be able to decide who is fit and ready and who is not, but the selection today? Arsenal looked all sorts but a team. Was Sanchez truly ready to play? Can Wenger justify why Mustafi a recognised centre back would be on the bench and a left back (Monreal) in a centre back position? Why was Bellerin, a right back playing left wing back when Montreal was there?. You would also wonder why play two across midfield with the array of midfield talent at Arsenal when Liverpool would come at you with three in the middle. And Rob Holding? A young player like that must be blooded in gradually into a team that is winning games and not thrown into the deep end, especially when you have experienced players all around him, but again Wenger throws him into the deep.

Wenger changed the system in the second half – Bellerin right back, Monreal left back, three across the middle – but, after three goals? To any armchair novice, it was the easiest thing to do after ten minutes!

Arsenal looked anything but a team and the signs were there on the first game of the season against Leicester – just managing to scrap a win over unlucky Leicester – and against Stoke the crack opened up even further with abysmal defending.

Are they lacking motivation from the manager? Well, I just don’t know, but I just feel sorry for Arsenal fans.

Arsene has to turn the tides quickly or his title aspirations looks set to be over even before Christmas.

Jose Mourinho’s United team marched on with three wins out of three yesterday and you wouldn’t have expected a different result, going by how they peppered Leicester all evening. Good pre-season for Paul Pogba and no Euro championships to disrupt his fitness, Paul took absolute control of the midfield and is showing why at £89m he is a bargain (I winder how much he would have gone for if his transfer was this summer)

With goals and threat of goals from everywhere, a new belief surrounds Old Trafford at the moment and everybody is expecting big things and big titles this year.

Last season, if Zlatan didn’t score, United were in trouble, but this season the Reds have not had to rely on a number nine alone, as goals have come from everywhere and everyone. You could see that the pressure was unbearable for Leicester and it was just a question of when, and not, if.

Lindelof, herrera, Smalling and co can’t even have a look in and you can see that Mourinho needs many competitions and superb man management skills to keep his squad happy.

One thing you have to give Jose is that he has turned Manchester United into a team that every player wants to play for, and has turned the gloom around Old Trafford post Fergie into the theatre of dreams again.

Last week I said city couldn’t play 3-5-2 and yes I was right as Pep went back to a back four with Sterling and Bernardo Silva playing wide of Jesus in attack

But, again and again, it is the defence that is cut open at will that worries me for Pep

He has to bring in players who love to defend: Kompany, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Keown, Adams, Gallas all come to mind. Is it Pep’s philosophy that is being tested or do Manchester City simply don’t have it?

Even though there are not many proper defenders nowadays agreed, they are out there and a team like City have the money to go and get one or two of the few available.

Henry Macguire just went to Leicester!

Until City can take care of the back door, I still believe they cannot finish top after thirty eight games. They say if you want to win the league, it starts from the back and City are yet to convince in that department.

Three of the back four picked up yellow cards; both centre backs picking cards, against Bournemouth and to be honest, Otamendi was lucky not to have been carded so early in the first half.

Yes they came back against Bournemouth after they conceded the first goal, against top sides and great quality, they won’t be so lucky this season.

It was a relatively easy afternoon as Chelsea played Championship winning football to overrun Everton at he bridge: efficient, compact, difficult to break down and superb attacking quality.

Forget the Burnley game – even with players suspended and injured – Chelsea have shown once again the resilience and tenacity that won then the title last year and with the depth in their squad, I would wait for the Champions League to start before I give my prediction as to where they’ll be at the end of the season.

It’ll also be interesting to see how Conte copes with and manages Roman’s Champions League expectations alongside his premiership ambitions. Roman wants the big ears again no doubt, but any manager would tell you that balancing both (when you’re an English team) and getting results on both fronts is a difficult thing indeed.

This Chelsea team can stand up to bullies, big, strong characters mean they can impose themselves on any team and they have the quality to hurt the opposition, especially with the depth they have in the squad.

Yes it was 0-2 before forty minutes, but Arsenal didn’t provide any credible opposition to Liverpool, they were just too easy to play against.

Take nothing away from the pace and energy of Jurgen Klopp’s side but Arsene Wenger didn’t offer any resistance to Klopp’s tactics.

Arsene’s tactic has always been ‘we would play the Arsenal way’ and he has not changed his philosophy, so no wonder Klopp played a low block and counter -attacked at every opportunity.

Liverpool looked fresh and sharp and with Sarah and Mane, they terrified the shapeless Arsenal defence all afternoon.

With two counter attacking goals, started from inside their own box, Liverpool just showed again how to turn defence into attack under ten seconds.

As the game went on, Arsenal’s lack lustre display birthed a superior Liverpool side whose possession and dominance brought them further up the pitch and drove Arsenal deep into their own eighteen yard box.

On the day, it was just too easy for Liverpool. They just pummelled Arsenal into submission, with the latter offering no resistance at all.

Tired legs from Euro League, no pressure on opposition, no resistance, and a Moratta sums up what happened to Everton at the bridge. Sandro just wasn’t there at all – came shirt when he had to stretch play, went long when he had to come towards the ball and just couldn’t hold the ball up – and because the balls kept coming back, the full backs offered nothing going forward. Not until Calvert-Lewis’s (also aided by Sigurdsson’s introduction) entry did Everton show up on the pitch, but by that time, the game had run away from them.

Chelsea just walked past them at will ; through the middle of the park and from the wings, the Thursday league has started to claim its first casualty.

Everton brought a lot of players in during the summer and they need time to understand each other and get their game going, but they need to do it fast before they find themselves where they don’t really want to.